On Personal Style: What is It?

“What constitues great personal style? This is one of the questions I get asked the most. We tend to think that to achieve great personal style someone must have perfect clarity about who they are and what they stand for. I politely disagree. I think conflict about who you are often leads o even greater expression. This is why young people, or the young at heart, are those that inspire or move fashion forward. They are still strugling to find themselves: “Am I a rocker? A footbaler? Or a little bit of both?” These contradictions produce the most interesting looks.”

Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist

I bought Scott’s first book because there is something in the people he photographs that is deeply interesting. Maybe it’s because we all love to look at other people and that has somehow become weird or dangerous to do on the street. To be able to look at interesting people from the comfort of your own sofa or desk, to study them and try to understand what is it about them that you like so much – that’s maybe why street style photography has become so popular.

We all see all kinds of interesting people everyday, but do you ever stop to really look at them?